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Allusive image Hungry children, LD stock photos
An estimated 16.7 million people are “highly severely food insecure”; in the Horn of Africa region, a figure that could rise to 20 million in September, more than a dozen humanitarian organizations and meteorological agencies warned on Monday.
After four unsuccessful rainy seasons, predictions point to a fifth – between October and December of this year – could be scarce again, aggravating the humanitarian crisis in the region, according to a statement signed by the World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), among others.
“If these forecasts materialize, the already serious humanitarian emergency in the region would deepen even more,” the organizations warned.
According to the latest analyses, In the April analysis, in Somalia, one of the countries hit by the drought -along with Kenya and Ethiopia-, at least 80,000 people suffer from “extreme hunger”, which This is equivalent to the worst case scenario forecast by the CPI, an international scale that measures food insecurity in five phases.
The drought has also affected livestock: Around 1.5 million animals have died in Kenya and 2.1 million in Ethiopia, after the rainy season from March to May was the driest on record.
Furthermore, the Somalia Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) -which reports to the UN- and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) estimate that one in three head of cattle has died in Somalia since mid-2021.
According to predictions, “in cultivated areas, harvests will once again be well below average, which will cause drought. long-term dependence on markets, where households will have limited access to food due to rising prices.”
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia also recorded an increase in the number Number of children suffering from severe malnutrition in the first quarter of 2022, compared to previous years.
The effects of the drought have been aggravated by the conflicts in the region and the covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has not only caused an increase in the price of food, fuel and other products, but it has caused a drop in international aid after many donors have cut their funding in favor of the European country.